13 January 2026
For one year, seven researchers from different YUFE universities will each work at a different partner university. The goal is for the researchers to become part of the academic community at their partner institution, allowing the universities to grow closer together.
The programme is aimed at experienced researchers (established and senior postdocs or professors), who will receive organizational and financial support for their stays at the partner universities. The researchers are free to decide how long their stay will last and what they would like to achieve. Possible activities include joint teaching formats and workshops or the planning and implementation of blended intensive programmes (BIPs), in which students or researchers collaborate both virtually and in person.
“Researchers never stand alone. In today’s scientific world, research is always international,” notes Funda Togar, a member of the YUFE Staff Journey team at the University of Bremen, which coordinates the programme. “We want to give researchers the opportunity to network individually in this pilot programme, thereby also strengthening the YUFE community. When researchers develop workshops, courses, or other formats, the academic environment always benefits too. And that is precisely the aim of the Visiting Scholar Programme.”
Translating Socially Relevant Research Topics into Innovative Teaching Formats
The example of Melanie Böckmann, Professor of Global Health at the University of Bremen, shows what this exchange can look like in practice. She and her colleague Dr. Floor van den Brandt from Maastricht University want to use the project to explore how specific teaching methods, such as problem-based learning, can be integrated into the YUFE blended learning principle. Together, they plan to lay the groundwork for a research project on tobacco consumption in South Asia. “The opportunity to work with a colleague from a YUFE partner university to translate socially relevant research topics into innovative teaching formats is rare in everyday university life. The YUFE Visiting Scholars Programme with short stays abroad is interesting to me because it contributes to internationalization and is easily compatible with my care responsibilities, teaching hours, and regular commitments,” she says.
The following researchers are participating in the programme:
- YUFE Visiting Scholar 2026 at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, France: Dr. Joanna Augustyn (Nicolaus Copernicus University Toruń, Poland)
- YUFE Visiting Scholar 2026 at the University of Bremen, Germany: Dr. Anna Kristiina Kokko (University of Eastern Finland)
- YUFE Visiting Scholar 2026 at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, France: Professor Dr. Darian Meacham (Maastricht University, Netherlands
- YUFE Visiting Scholar 2026 at the University of Carlos III de Madrid, Spain: Dr. Irena Vodopija-Krstanović (University of Rijeka, Croatia)
- YUFE Visiting Scholar 2026 at the University of Carlos III de Madrid, Spain: Alberto Romele (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, France)
- YUFE Visiting Scholar at the University of Rijeka, Croatia: Professor Juan Pablo Rodríguez Delgado (Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain)
- YUFE Visiting Scholar at Maastricht University, Netherlands: Professor Melanie Böckmann (University of Bremen, Germany)
